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Poster: grendelschoice Date: Apr 23, 2009 8:08am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: venting(the dead related)

To be fair, "the scene", whatever it was, was dying even back in the day.

I remember the gate crashers literally caving in the fence at Irvine Meadows in 1987 and rolling like bowling balls down the hill, crashing into people w/tickets, shoving them aside to get away from the cops trying (uselessly) to herd them up.

A minority of asswipes who spoiled it for the rest of us, but enough of a presence to bring about the beginning of the end.

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Poster: cousinkix1953 Date: Apr 24, 2009 5:54am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: venting(the dead related)

"To be fair, "the scene", whatever it was, was dying even back in the day. I remember the gate crashers literally caving in the fence at Irvine Meadows in 1987 and rolling like bowling balls down the hill, crashing into people w/tickets, shoving them aside to get away from the cops trying (uselessly) to herd them up. A minority of asswipes who spoiled it for the rest of us, but enough of a presence to bring about the beginning of the end." Robert Hunter said that the Touch era (1987) was the beginning of the end. Attitudes changed. Assholes ruined the Laguna Seca runs in 1988 and that was good place for big shows. It was the end of the line at several venues like the Kaiser, Greek, Frost, Irvine and few other by 1989; because the neighbors had enough of the slobs...
This post was modified by cousinkix1953 on 2009-04-24 12:54:11

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Poster: fenario80 Date: Apr 23, 2009 9:33am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: venting(the dead related)

Irvine is always a mess, but in 1987 had a whole raft of vile problems that can't be blamed on the Heads, including a ton of road and parking lot construction. Remember? It took us literally over two hours to go two miles from the freeway to the parking lot. They were also searching everybody at the doors, which slowed admission to a dead crawl. I was one of probably over 1000 people who missed about half of the first set waiting outside in a security line, and if I had seen a group of people busting in, I would suurely have joined them. Irvine 1987 was a disaster of planning and execution, but is not a good example of an out-of-control crowd.

However, 1987 was also the year that I first remember all the drunken frat boys at Irvine, singing along to Sugaree ... in hindsight, that is really when we all should have known it was over. Not to say they didn't make some good music after that - I'm particularly fond of the Bruce era myself - but the scene was completely and utterly over the moment "In The Dark" was released.

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Poster: lobster12 Date: Apr 23, 2009 9:56am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: venting(the dead related)

You are correct about Irvine. I stopped going to Buffett shows there because of the behavior and the mess. No kidding, you have to make a mad dash through the lot to avoid getting hit with wild turkey bottles. As for this scene...no excuse. Put your empties back in the case and stick the case in the trunk.

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Poster: grendelschoice Date: Apr 23, 2009 1:19pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: venting(the dead related)

fenario & lobster...right on both counts.

I actually did not encounter those probs w/the cops and delays getting in as fenario did at Irvine '87, but heard about them afterward...

as for the gate crashers my distinct impression was that most of them never had tickets to begin with (remember the warnings the band started posting around '87--if you don't have tix, don't show up?)...well, i'd say 90% of these clowns never had any intention of buying a ticket and couldn't have been prouder of themselves for acting like apes and literally bursting onto the scene.

it was bizarre b/c just one year earlier at Hampton I literally drove into the lot knowing i could get tix for all 3 nights w/no hassle (I did)...and at face value to boot. But I also knew making that crazy trek that I was taking a chance at not getting in at all and would have been alright (tho' pretty bumbed) w/camping out at the car and partying w/my friends after. Never did I consider smashing thru a door to get in.

and the trash? Holy crap. It's the reason faux hippies everywhere are despised for their bullshit hypocrisy re: "love Mother Earth"....you should have seen I-91 in Vermont after the "final" Phish show...looked like goddamned Armageddon had come and stopped at Burger King on the way out.

Ridiculous.

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Poster: William Tell Date: Apr 23, 2009 7:57pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: venting(the dead related)

I posted this elsewhere, but fits here: "Yeah, I suppose if we saw pics showing that everyone picked up after WoodStock, or the many Days on the Green or Winterland shows, what happened at this DEAD show might be a story (ie, we all lived up to the myth back then of Children of the Garden or whatever it was...) but between all the puke on my sleeping bag (generally not my own or my girlfriends), trash in the lot, etc., etc., I suppose it never occurred to me that "we" were better or worse than any other group, new or old DEADHEADs.

It might have even been silly to imagine it otherwise, right? No matter what the "average outlook" of a group might be, when the group is out for a good time, ingesting any number of substances that might preclude clear thinking and good deed doing, it just might not be the right context for good behavior. Or, we are just hypocrites as you note, GC.

Maybe, but maybe not, if it was "posted" that there was a "clean up day" following a concert by the DEAD would we find that all of us, here, LMA, etc., or at least more than the Bills fans (?) would show up to do the right thing?...I am not even sure that was true then, or today. And I defn don't know if it is LESS true today..."

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Poster: spacedface Date: Apr 23, 2009 11:19pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: venting(the dead related)

I think by the late 80s things had changed. Maybe it was just the bigger crowds, or that Bill Graham owned Shoreline, but he would be there himself with a trash bag picking up just after a show.

Mmm, no, the above is part of it but the crowds seemed pushier. And even being inside the show very early didn't mean you could get a decent seat. In the latter days., people thought they could save vast tracts of seats for people who wouldn't come for hours.